Northwestern president testifies before Congress in antisemitism hearing

CHICAGO — Northwestern University’s president is in Washington to testify before Congress about antisemitism at their schools and their responses to anti-war encampments protesting Israel’s war on Gaza that has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children.

The Committee on Education and Workforce called the university presidents before them. Republicans wanting to address antisemitism on campus and Democrats say Republicans on the committee are simply looking for ‘Gotcha moments.’

President Michael Schill is joined by the president of UCLA and Rutgers University. Just after testimony is began in Washington, leaders of the Northwestern protest encampment spoke to reporters Thursday morning on their thoughts on Schill’s appearance before Congress.

The Northwestern encampment demonstration, along with ones at universities across the country, are calling for their schools to divest and disclose funds being given to Israel as they say the state is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.

While at The Hague, the International Criminal Court is filing an arrest warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu for war crimes and crimes against humanity.  The United Nations’ highest court, the International Court of Justice, is investigating whether Israel has committed genocide during its seven-month war against Hamas in Gaza.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed by the Israeli military since Hamas’ initial October 7 attack which took the lives of roughly 1,200 Israelis. The number of Palestinians killed is mainly women and children, the Gaza Health Ministry says.

Schill negotiated an end to encampment by promising demonstrations could continue but without tents and promised more transparency in the critisism investments. The deal spurred lawsuits and call for his resignation from Jewish organizations.

The House committee on Education and Workforce will question Schill about that deal. Republicans who control the committee in particular want to question the president on antisemitism on campus. Schill who calls himself a proud Kew has held the deal up as a model for other universities some of which saw violent ends to encampments through police force.

That same committee heard from presidents of several ivy league schools back in December and their testimony led to the two presidents resigning.

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